Monthly sales of the world's No.2 silicon foundry, UMC of Taiwan, have almost tripled since February. In August, UMC's sales just topped $3.1 bn. In August, they topped $9bn.
UMC's revenues returned to June 08 levels in June 09, according to Shih-Wei Sun, UMC's CEO, and they have stayed above 2008 monthly levels every month since June 09.
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August 09 sales were 11% up on August 08 sales.If you compare Jan-Aug 2008 sales with Jan-Aug 2009, this year's sales to date are still 22.4% down on last year's but, if you take the monthly sales figures for June, July and August 2009, they are each above the sales figures for June, July and August 2009. The big jump came in Q209 sales which showed a 100% increase over Q109.
So the foundry industry is leading the semiconductor industry out of its recession.
In fact UMC's August was its best monthly sales figure for two years, and both UMC and the No.1 foundry, TSMC, reckon Q3 will be better.
UMC's August sales were US$276m sales up from US$248m in August 2008. It is the third monthly year-on-year growth this year, but the first double digit monthly year-on-year growth figure.
Sales for Jan-Aug 08 were US$1.6bn, still 22.4% down on Jan-Aug 2008.
Last year, UMC's sales dropped every month from August 08 to February 09 but, since March 09, they have been increasing every month.
The company turned profitable in Q209 after three successive quarters of loss. The pure-play foundry managed to swing back to profitability in second-quarter 2009, following losses for three consecutive quarters.
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